tweet: tomtomchap Warden of the North - bearded, tattooed and square eyed 'til the end

If rumors are to be believed, the "Serkis" could be coming to town — well, the #DCEU to be more precise. With the next #Batman film finally on some sort of track thanks to #MattReeves returning to the director's chair and #BenAffleck reportedly getting back in shape, Batfans are looking to the future of the Caped Crusader.

While Bruce Wayne will first be taking flight in #ZackSnyder's #JusticeLeague, Affleck's plans beyond that are lurking in the shadows like our titular Caped Crusader. Plotlines, villains, and even the cast of #TheBatman are shrouded in more mystery than one of the Riddler's riddles, however, has Matt Reeves just dropped a huge casting bombshell on us?

Gotham Is Calling

Taking to Twitter, the director tweeted a seemingly nonchalant comment about his admiration for #AndySerkis, but is there more than meets the eye if we dig a little deeper? Interestingly, it was a question about casting Serkis in The Batman that prompted the tweet:

Reeves cleverly swerved the question while also leaving the casting door wide open for Serkis to walk through. If they don't say no, anything is possible!

Best known for his motion capture roles, Serkis has starred as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, played King Kong in Peter Jackson's film of the same name, and recently teamed up with Reeves to play Caesar in War for the Planet of the Apes. That being said, he isn't just limited to "monkeying" around with CGI and has taken on live-action roles in King Kong (again) and The Prestige, in addition to playing Ulysses Klaue in Avengers: Age of Ultron and will be returning in the same role in Black Panther.

Who's Bat Guy?

As with all these things, any whiff of a possible casting has people clutching at straws and trawling Reddit theories about who the actor could be playing. Presuming that Serkis is sticking with the motion capture route (which is possible), fans are already delving deep into the Bat-catalogue to theorize about who he could be playing. So far, the likes of Clayface, Solomon Grundy, and Manbat are firm favorites, but as the man with 1,000,000 faces, Serkis could literally be playing anyone — or no one.

In particular, Serkis would be a superb choice for the character of Clayface, who was first introduced in 1940 and has adopted a number of aliases. Thanks to the nostalgia-filled '90s and Batman: The Animated Series, Clayface remains extremely popular and we have been waiting for his big-screen arrival ever since. It would certainly be an out-there choice, but one that would definitely need motion capture and give a more original take on Batman's rogues' gallery. Given that The Batman is already scheduled to star Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, it shows that Warner Bros. isn't afraid of moving away from Joker, Catwoman, and Two-Face.

Flip 'Em The Bird

However, with his small stature and gnarled looks, can anyone else imagine Serkis as Penguin? There was a recent flurry of activity around the flippered foe when Josh Gad joked that he could be playing the part. It was all a hoax, but it did remind us of how brilliant Penguin would be in the DCEU. As one of Batman's greatest foes, many remember the character thanks to Danny DeVito's portrayal in Batman Returns and Robin Lord Taylor's current iteration on #Gotham. Serkis as a cockney Oswald Cobblepot in line with the New 52 reimagining could be one hell of a money-spinner.

For those are calling out, "But he belongs to Marvel," Hollywood history has taught us that no comic book studio owns a man. Only recently, we have seen Josh Brolin jump off the Marvel bandwagon and line himself up a pivotal role as Cable in Fox's Deadpool 2. Elsewhere, even Affleck swapped #comicbook powerhouses to play Daredevil and then Batman. Given that Reeves has such an appreciation for Serkis, and the actor is a veritable expert at what he does, expect this one to come Bataraganing back toward us when more information becomes available.

Check out our video on the many faces of Andy Serkis and don't forget our poll below!